Loyal Blade
by Somariel
Summary: Hikaru's sword has its own perspective on things. Set in the manga universe.


Written for the 13th Amnesty challenge on the Fan Flashworks community on Livejournal and Dreamwidth; Prompt: The Other Side.

A/N: Many thanks to Antoinette Veronica for the quick beta.

**Title:** Loyal Blade  
**Fandom:** Magic Knight Rayearth  
**Rating:** PG  
**Length:** 1,162 words  
**Content notes:** Oblique mention of people being killed  
**Author notes:** Set in the manga universe. This was very fun to write, but it was also very challenging.  
**Summary:** Hikaru's sword has its own perspective on things.

* * *

I came into being when my Chosen first appeared in this world. For a while, I drifted formless in my mother's embrace, feeling my sisters drifting along with me. And then a shock rippled through my mother. My Chosen had entered my mother's embrace.

I could feel my mother testing my Chosen. I swelled and diminished with my Chosen's successes and failures in the testing. Finally, I felt my Chosen's magic tear through my mother and my mother exulted. My Chosen had passed her test! I coalesced into a crystal and appeared before my Chosen. She reached out and touched me and from that moment on, I would tolerate the touch of no other hand, not even that of my sisters' Chosen.

My mother's power swelled around me and my Chosen and we were lifted out of her embrace. Once I was outside my mother, I could feel the presence of more than just my sisters and my Chosen. My sisters' Chosen were there and there was also a Power and a Maker present. The Maker reached out with her Will and guided me and my sisters into new shapes, but I could feel that my new shape was not the last shape I would take.

When the Maker's Will receded from me, my Chosen grasped me firmly. She held me for a little while and then I shifted into the between world. Even from there, I could feel my Chosen, and when her Need echoed through the between world, I shifted back into the solid world. Even as my Chosen gripped me, I could feel the presence of my airy sister and my fluid sister's father. We were in his Place.

I could feel my Chosen's magic ebbing and swelling as she fought something, but then she dropped me. I felt the pull of the between world, but the power in my sister's father's Place kept me from returning to it. Soon, I felt my fluid sister's presence and the power of her father's Place let me feel the ebb and swell of _her_ Chosen's magic. Then the power of my sister's father swept over me and I changed into a new shape. As I returned to the between world, I felt my sister's father accept her Chosen and enter the between world with me and my sisters.

When I next returned to the solid world, I could feel that we were in the Place of my airy sister's father. Something about my Chosen felt off, though. Sensing my fluid sister, I asked her if her Chosen felt the same way and received a positive answer. When my Chosen started to press me up against my airy sister's Chosen, I knew that something was most definitely wrong. Before I could harm my airy sister's Chosen, however, my airy sister returned to the solid world and interposed herself between me and her Chosen.

Then, as had happened in the Place of my fluid sister's father, I could feel the ebb and swell of the magic of my sister's Chosen. This time it was my airy sister's Chosen. I felt her magic wrap around me and my Chosen. Eventually, the magic faded from around us, then I felt the power of my airy sister's father sweep over me and I changed shape again. Once again, as I returned to the between world, I felt my sister's father accept her Chosen and enter the between world with us.

Even in the between world, I could feel it as my Chosen approached _my_ father's Place. Shortly thereafter, I felt my father's power wrap around my Chosen and draw her into his Place. As she came near my father, I felt him acknowledge me. In my father's presence, everything I felt from my Chosen was amplified and I could feel her nervousness as she spoke with him.

Then my father moved out of his Place and my Chosen followed him. When she left my father's Place, I could feel her shock and anger and then her Need called me back into the solid world. She used me well, but I could feel her pain increasing. Her anger grew as she fought and so did her determination. I felt a surge of triumph from her, but then I was knocked from her hands and I felt her shock and pain. I was picked up almost immediately, but the hand that grasped me was _not_ my Chosen's. I flared my own small power and the interloper dropped me. I felt my Chosen's surprise and awe and then _she_ picked me up.

My father's power washed over me then and I assumed my final form. I felt my father accept my Chosen and then my sisters' fathers returned from the between world to join my father. My father's power enveloped me and my Chosen as I returned to the between world.

I drifted in the between world with my sisters for some time before my Chosen's Need called me back to her hand. When I returned to the solid world this time, there was a duality to the hands that grasped me. One set belonged to my Chosen and the other set belonged to my father.

While held in that dual grasp, I could sense everything my father could and I felt the roiling currents of magic as my Chosen and my sisters' Chosen battled someone who was close to becoming a Power. Even supported by our fathers, my Chosen and my sisters' Chosen were having a difficult time fighting the near-Power and my Chosen's pain grew steadily. Then there was a surge of Will from my Chosen and her magic flared in unison with that of my sisters' Chosen. The flares grew and merged with our fathers' power, then merged into a single flare and blasted towards the near-Power. The sense of the near-Power faded and I felt my Chosen's sense of triumph. I returned to the between world as my Chosen's Need faded.

A short time later, my Chosen's Need flared sharply and I came back to the solid world, held in the dual grasp of my Chosen and my father. The currents of magic flowing in my Chosen's present battle were even stronger than the ones from the last battle. I sensed that my Chosen was battling the World Power and I knew that _this_ was my purpose. My Chosen felt confused, though, like she didn't know why she was battling the World Power.

The roiling of magic from the battle calmed momentarily and I felt a surge of anguish from my Chosen. The anguish was briefly superseded by a sharp pain, but returned even stronger. Then my Chosen's Will flared sharply and I _felt_ her scream as the anguish became overpowering. Power surged all around us and I merged with my sisters even as I felt our fathers merge. The World Power raced towards us and my sisters and I fulfilled our purpose in being.


End file.
